Actor Skipp Lynch
Training:
American Academy of Dramatic Arts
On tour:
Skipp’s many tours included Noel Coward’s Tonight at 8:30 starring Steve Allen and Jayne Meadows, Bell Book and Candle with Lana Turner, Bus Stop with John Travolta and Brian Dennehy, and two tours of The Rainmaker—one starring Dirk Benecict and another with Ken Howard.
Wacky moments:
While on stage in Denver with Steve Allen and Jayne Meadows, a pillow attached itself to Ms. Meadow’s derriere of her Balenciaga gown, and Allen quipped, much to the audience’s delight: “Don’t look now, darling, but something’s following you!”
On tour with John Travolta in 1976:
“To be on tour with somebody that magnetic is interesting. Of course we sold out all the time, but mostly to young girls and their parents. When we got to Yonkers, there was a summer theatre called the Westchester Playhouse in the auditorium of a big high school. They had an announcement before the show: ‘Ladies and gentleman, please refrain from chewing gum during the performance, it interferes with the actors. And it irritates everybody around you.’ Because you’d go out on stage and all you’d hear was crack-crack-crack-crack… I’d never heard anything quite like that! But it was great to be on tour with John—he was very, very generous. It’s amazing how you see people early in their development and they go on to great things, it’s terrific.”
On touring with Lana Turner in 1977–78 (in the photo at right):
“It was interesting because she was just turning 50…her looks were still quite spectacular with the blonde hair on stage. She would get to the theatre at 4 pm for an 8 pm curtain, and she wouldn’t come out until her makeup was perfect—everything was just Hollywood perfect. So her manager was along and he would help her out with a lot of things to do. Her preparation was so Metro Goldwyn Mayer. And she liked to do something that you wouldn’t really expect—after the matinee on Wednesdays and Saturday, she liked to go to dinner (or a late lunch, whatever you want to call it), so it was my job to find a restaurant to go to.”
Advice for young actors:
“You have to financially figure out how you’re going to meet your financial responsibility for wherever you live. You have to think about what kind of a job you can get to supplement your career. It’s interesting, after my first tour, when I joined Equity, I actually got a job through The Actors Fund Work Program, because back in those days there weren’t so many people, and they had a sheet and I said I could type very well and I got hired in the Nederlander office. I really learned a lot there of how auditions work.”
Skipp is part of a very special community of unique individuals who reside at The Actors Fund Home. The Home is the jewel in The Fund’s housing crown and a recipient of U.S. News and World Report’s coveted “Best Nursing Homes in America” award, bestowed on the best 2,700 of the 17,000 facilities nationwide. Our 124 residents represent a diverse cross-selection of the entertainment industry—from stagehands to writers to producers and, of course, dancers and actors, too. Nearly every entertainment union is represented under one roof in Englewood, New Jersey.
This interview originally appeared in Marquee, the official newsletter of The Actors Fund. Join The Fund today! Not only will you receive your own copy of Marquee twice yearly, plus all the benefits of membership, you’ll also play an important role in helping everyone in our creative community in times of need, crisis or transition and continue The Actors Fund tradition of caring for our own in entertainment.
Photo: Joann Coates